Mark Kelly Offers Harris a VP Tested by Space, Combat and Personal Tragedy
- Astronaut and combat pilot supported wife after she was shot
- Border-state senator may also reassure voters on immigration
Mark Kelly
Photographer: Caitlin O'Hara/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Arizona Senator Mark Kelly offers Kamala Harris a potential running mate with a powerful life story — a former astronaut and fighter pilot tested by space, combat and personal tragedy.
The working-class son of two New Jersey police officers, Kelly counters the testosterone-infused appeal of Republicans Donald Trump and JD Vance with a swashbuckling career as a Space Shuttle commander and Navy aviator who flew 39 combat missions in the Persian Gulf War. He turned to politics only after his wife, then-Representative Gabby Giffords, was grievously wounded in a 2011 mass shooting near Tucson.